Dr. Massoud Amin, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, holds the Honeywell/H.W. Sweatt Chair in Technological Leadership, and is the Director of the Technological Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota in Twin Cities. In addition to his administrative and research responsibilities, he serves as the director of graduate studies (DGS) for the security technologies (MSST) program (2008-present), served as the DGS for the management of technology (MOT) program (2003-2009) and teaches several courses including MOT 8920 (Science & Technology Policy), MOT 8224 (Pivotal & Emerging Technologies), MOT 8940 (Intellectual Property Valuation & Strategy), MOT 8950 (International MOT Project), MOT8234 (Capstone Project), and ISE 5302 (Critical Infrastructure Security and Protection).

His research focuses on two areas: 1) Global transition dynamics to enhance resilience, agility, security and efficiency of complex dynamic systems. These systems include national critical infrastructures for interdependent energy, computer networks, communications, transportation and economic systems. 2) Technology scanning, mapping, and valuation to identify new science and technology-based opportunities that meet the needs and aspirations of today's consumers, companies and the broader society. This thrust builds coherence between short- and longer-term R&D opportunities and their potential impact.

Prior to joining the University of Minnesota in March 2003, Dr. Amin held positions of increased responsibility including Area Manager of Infrastructure Security, Grid Operations/Planning, and Energy Markets at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto, California. In the aftermath of the tragic events of 9/11, he directed all security-related research and development at EPRI, including the Infrastructure Security Initiative (ISI) and the Enterprise Information Security (EIS). Prior to October 2001, he served as manager of mathematics and information science at EPRI, where he led strategic research in modeling, simulation, optimization, and adaptive control of national infrastructures for energy, telecommunication, transportation, and finance.

At EPRI, Dr. Amin developed collaborative research initiatives with diverse groups, including electric power industry, the government, universities and other stakeholders (including EPRI and its members, the US DOD, DOE, NSF, National Governors' Association, NRC/NAE, and the White House OSTP). This primarily involved creation and successful launch of the Complex Interactive Networks/Systems Initiative (CIN/SI), initiated in mid-1998 in response to growing concerns over the vulnerability of critical national infrastructures. CIN/SI developed six research consortia consisting of 108 professors and over 200 researchers in 28 U.S. universities, along with two energy companies, co-funded equally by EPRI and the U.S. DOD. In the course of the CIN/SI, Dr. Amin pioneered R&D in smart grids and self-healing infrastructures in 1998 during his tenure at EPRI, and led the development of over 24 technologies transferred to industry. He is considered by many as the "father of the smart grid."

Prior to joining EPRI in January 1998, he held positions of associate professor of systems science and mathematics and associate director of the Center for Optimization & Semantic Control at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. During his twelve years at Washington University, he was one of the main contributors to several projects with United States Air Force, NASA-Ames, Rockwell International, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, MEMC, ESCO, Systems & Electronics Inc. and United Van Lines. While at Washington University, his research focused on:

System Identification and Control: Intelligent control including reconfigurable and self-repairing controllers; theory and application of dynamic neural networks in on-line identification and optimal control of uncertain systems; robust nonlinear and adaptive control.

Transportation, Optimization and Scheduling Theory: Intelligent Transportation Systems, decision-aiding, optimization, and control modules for air and land transportation networks.

Learning Control for Game Theory: Many-on-one games with incomplete information and limited resources; applications to evasive maneuvering against multiple pursuers.

Dr. Amin is the author or co-author of more than 190 research papers and the editor of seven collections of manuscripts, and serves on the editorial boards of six academic journals. At Washington University, students voted him three times Professor of the Year (voted annually by seniors in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University, 1992-1995), Mentor-of-The-Year (Assoc. of Graduate Engineering Students, Feb. 1996), and the Leadership Award (voted by the senior engineering class, May 1995). Dr. Amin received Best Session Paper Presentation Awards (American Control Conference, 1997) and an AIAA Young Professional Award (St. Louis section, 1991). At EPRI he received several awards including the 2002 President's Award for the Infrastructure Security Initiative, 2000 and 2002 Chauncey Awards (the highest annual EPRI Award, in March 2001 and 2003), and six EPRI Performance Recognition Awards during 1999-2002 for leadership in three areas.

He served as a member of the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE) at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering during 2001-2007, and is a member of the Board on Mathematical Sciences and Applications (BMSA) at the National Academy of Sciences during 2006-2009, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, a senior member of IEEE, AAAS, AIAA, ASME, NY Academy of Sciences, SIAM, and Informs. He is a member of the IEEE Computer Society's Task Force on Security and Privacy, and served on the Board of the Center for Security Technologies (CST) at Washington University (2002-2006). Dr. Amin holds B.S. (cum laude) and M.S. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in systems science and mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Consulting and Professional Experience:

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, NASA-Ames Research Center, Rockwell International, MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., Electronics & Space Corp., TSI, IBM, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co., United States (US) Dept. of Defense, US Air Force, US Army Research Office, US Dept. of Energy, NSF, National Governors' Association, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the US National Academy of Engineering.

Development and management of R&D initiatives focusing on national infrastructures for energy, transportation, communication, banking and finance; strategic planning and implementation of science and technology R&D programs in partnership with diverse public/private stakeholders;

Impact Summary:

Initiated, successfully created and managed R&D toward the smart self-healing electric power grid, and led the development of more than twenty four advanced technologies to enhance the security of our national critical infrastructures.

The foundational work in the above area has become a leading concept in sixteen on-going programs at EPRI, NSF, DHS, DOE and DOD. The resultant initiatives that he created continue to be successful and in the electricity sector (including Intelligrid at EPRI, Gridwise and Modern Grid at DOE and the national labs, as well as various smart grid initiatives in the industry). Defense applications of this work were in Network-Centric Objective Force, which is now part of the Future Combat Systems. The area of self-healing infrastructure was recommended in 2005 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as one of three thrust areas for the National Plan for research and development in support of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP).

Most of our students at TLI are fast-tracked full-time professionals from Minnesota's high-tech companies; Prof. Amin and his team work closely with them to ensure a very high positive impact on the State's economy by supplying the leadership talent pipeline in Minnesota to succeed globally. As an example of impact in Minnesota, one of the key integrative courses in the Management of Technology (MOT) program is the capstone project undertaken by these professionals; there are about 30-32 Capstone projects completed each year. The dollar impact resulting from companies' increased revenues, cost savings, product or process innovations, or new products per project amount to a range of a few hundred thousand dollars to several tens of millions of dollars.